Monday, October 24, 2005

UFC Unleashed

Babalu looks like a man compared to the boy he was when he got beat by theIceman. I haven't seen any other fights of his but the Liddell fight but Isee he has fought some real warriors. He's supposed to be a great strikerbut he looked as though he wanted to be on the ground as much as Wiuff. Iguess he wanted to show the new Brazilian JJ stuff. His sprawl looked goodenough to stay on his feet were that his desire. His ground game lookedsolid. Ground and pound with some submissions. He could end up being areal gamer since he spent time with Marco Ruas and Rizzo and now is roundingout his game with the Gracie's.

Diaz vs FicketWell, Nick Diaz looks like a trash talker and I personally don't think thereis room in the sport of that and would hate to see that become commonplace.His skills and aggression were good though and he has potential. Ficketlooked overmatched by the scrawny Diaz. I'm not sure who I wanted to seeget his butt kicked more, to be honest so it was a wash in my book. Goodfight by Diaz though.

Quarry vs Carter (?)Another dominant performance by Quarry. I am really looking forward to him fighting Franklin. I don't know about the heavy hands he has bragged aboutbut we'll see. I think it was Shonie Carter he fought in the fight lastnight but I didn't catch the first part so I can't guarantee it. I'm also at work so I can't research it appropriately. Carter is a veteran but never has set the world on fire. Quarry owned him from the get go and looked good. So you got Quarry and Leben coming out of Couture's camp? Wow, nice.

Caro Paresyan vs (hell i can't remember)I was interested to see the Paresyan fight since he's going to be fighting Hughes soon. Caro's of Armenian decent and lives in North Hollywood, CA which I believe is where System of a Down is from, also Armenian. So Caro can keep beating people down while Serj can sing about stopping the violence all while the band continues to make music that is the audio equivalent ofcrack-cocaine, which fuels Paresyan to fight harder and more aggressive which causes Serj to get more passionate about stopping the violence which in turn causes the band to be even more aggressive and brutal which...okay okay i'm done. Anyway it will be interesting to see if Caro can use this Judo throws to neutralize Hughes' strength and takedowns.

Tuesday, October 18, 2005

T.U.F. 2 episode 9

Wow! What a pathetic fight. Rashad vs Mike Whitehead. I really thought this would be something. It stunk though. I don't care if I ever see another Rashad fight. That's the second fight he came out and just stood there. Sure toward the end he got a little aggressive but for the most part he just waved his jab hand around like there was a mosquito bugging him. His striking looked pretty good. He could have been the aggressor and taken control of the fight but he just sat there. I guess he deserves some credit though. Something he does seems to suck the sould right out of his opponents. That's the second guy who just came in and figured the job was done when he showed up.

The saddest thing is that Mike was afraid to get punched in the face. A UFC fighter? Huh? You can see how he just about pissed himself whenever Rashad did throw a punch. Mike would abandon anything he was trying to do if Evans throw leather near his face. What a disgrace. I understand that Whitehead probably got spooked when he couldn't take Rashad down but my god man!

Rashad may have one and showed some skill doing it but I question his heart. He said he was going to leave it all in the ring and he clearly didn't, win or no win. He is scared to be the aggressor and I can't respect that. Sure he's won two fights but they were handed to him more than anything.

Thursday, October 13, 2005

T.U.F

My thoughts on The Ultimate Fighter series on Spike TV( my currentobsession). I watched the first season religiously even though I knewnothing about it and found out about it late. The show and the fights wereso much better last year but still it's the only show on TV that I lookforward to. Last year's finale was the most amazing fight I have ever seen. Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar went at it like champions and both proved they could take shots, give shots and were well rounded. Forrest was much more fluid than Stephan, who looked stiff but still was impressive overall. I'm not sure if either have heavy hands since they each took many, many shots to the chin but we'll see in the future I imagine.

Even the other fighters from the first season are seeing action. Josh Koscheck has looked good except in his last fight. He reminds me of Kevin Randleman when he was in the UFC. Strong, quick, overwhelming on the groundand able to get a takedown anytime he wants. He did learn the hardway that the chief rival to the sprawl for defending takedowns is a good knee though. Leben is looking good. Strong ground and pound, good sprawl, iron chin and good striking. Nate Quarry looked amazing in his last fight though as I recall it was against Lodune Sincaid who didn't impress anyone. Quarry said that he has heavy hands but I haven't seen them yet. He's also supposed to be a good submissions guy but so far all I have seen is striking. His punching was tight and accurate and I can't wait to see him against "Ace"Franklin.

The new crop of TUF's don't seem nearly as potent though. Cummo was impressive and we didn't even get to see him standup for very long. His groundwork was mostly defensive but he did stay out of trouble against a grappler with more experience and more strength. Joe was brutal but he was going against a one dimensional striker. I think Mike Whitehead will be a monster when he gets to fight. If his takedowns are good he'll have an upperhand on Seth and or Keith who are strikers.

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

My Blog...my own blog

Well folks this is it. I decided to start my own blog so that I can ramble on about nothing and everything. I am not sure what my goals or intentions are with this other than to just give myself a place to vent or spout off at the mouth....er...fingers. Please come in and sit down and read a bit. My plan is to make this my own forum for discussing (okay maybe lecturing) on all things MMA. Because frankly i'm infatuated with it. I do hope that it will be entertaining though and I would love feedback from anyone who is unlucky enough to get stuck in my spiderweb.

The Ultimate Fighter 2 episode 8

What a great fight that was last night. Luke Cummo the quiet, nerdy guy who everyone makes fun of faced off against Anthony who I had forgotten was part of the show since he's never on screen. The classic striker versus grappler matchup. Nevermind that Luke looks like cro-magnon man (and my buddy Nick, sorry bro) he is a scrawny lil fella. Anthony is a strapping wrestler type. This being the modern age of mixed martial arts the two have some skill and training in the other form of combat but have their specialties. I do kind of miss the days when it was two guys who had their specialty and little else but the modern day warrior is more rounded and that makes for an interesting chess match.

I admit to having a likeness for Luke as he is into Eastern philosophy and such and I too was once a quit bookworm. Not so much anymore I am afraid. Anyway, Luke dominated the fight both on the mat and on their feet. I was a little disappointed in Anthony's performance. I mean it was obvious that he had no gas left at the end, as it should be, but I think he got too tired too quickly. He should have been throwing the scrawny NYer around from the start. He should have shot and taken him down and pounded on him. To his credit though Luke knew enough grappling to stay out of trouble and he was obviously the aggressor throughout. I want to see more of his standup skills. Of the rest of the welterweights left I think he can hold his own against all of them with the possible exception of Joe. Granted I haven't seen Sammy fight yet. Joe is probably too strong for anyone in the welterweight class. He's strong, motivated and a really good grappler. Oh and he's got a lot of experience. Poor guy is ugly too. I read somewhere that you should never fight anyone ugly since they have nothing to lose.